Metaphor: ReFantazio breathes new life into Atlus’ tried and true RPG formula — and it's the perfect post-Persona 5 evolution

Metaphor ReFantazio feels like a breath of fresh air. Yes, there are systems borrowed from both Persona and Shin Megami Tensei but there are also plenty of new ideas in Atlus’ fantasy-inspired world.

Like with Persona 3 Reload, Metaphor ReFantazio starts slow with a lengthy prologue. During those first few hours, Atlus thrusts you into its world while introducing you to combat, exploration and the systems you’ll use to improve your party and your bonds with them.

While Metaphor ReFantazio is built on an older game engine, its stylized visuals are impressive. At times, it felt like I was playing a game set within a storybook with colorful, almost hand-painted backgrounds. It’s not the most graphically demanding game but the attention to detail and strong art design make up for this.

Read on for my full Metaphor ReFantazio review, where I’ll explain why this new direction from Atlus is a welcome one with the potential to give the Persona series a run for its money.

Metaphor ReFantazio: The Basics

• What is it? Metaphor ReFantazio is a role-playing game set in a fantasy world that tells the story of an orphaned boy’s journey to become the next king of Euchronia.
• Who is it for? Fantasy fans and role-playing game fans alike are willing to invest a good chunk of time into Metaphor ReFantazio’s 60-100 hour long campaign.
• What is the price? The standard edition of Metaphor ReFantazio costs $69, but there’s also a collector's edition for $150 which includes a steel book, the soundtrack and extra downloadable content.
• What other games has the developer made? Atlus is known for its Persona and Shin Megami Tensei games and Metaphor ReFantazio was made by the creators of Persona 3, 4 and 5.
• What games is this similar to? Metaphor ReFantazio shares a lot of systems from Atlus’ other games with a time management aspect similar to later Persona games and a battle system inspired by Shin Megami Tensei

A race for the crown

Metaphor ReFantazio begins with the game’s protagonist and his fairy companion, Gallica, traveling to the capital city Grand Trad. A foreboding atmosphere surrounds the city though as its king has just died.

Without a proper successor, control of the kingdom is up for grabs but before his death, the king invoked his Royal Magic to find a worthy one. This sets off the Royal Tournament in which anyone — regardless of their current position or background – can throw their hat in the ring for a chance to become king.

Metaphor ReFantazio’s protagonist enters the tournament but as an unknown contender from a less popular tribe, he faces an uphill battle to gain the recognition needed to claim the throne. Whether you’re battling monsters in a dungeon, taking on a bounty or building bonds with your party and followers, you’re simultaneously working to improve your rank in the tournament.

Your journey sees you travel to various cities and towns across three distinct nations. Along the way, you camp out with your party members, sightsee and help out those in need. Side quests are sprinkled throughout and I often found myself getting lost in their stories. Some of them are quite unique too, like when a sullen man tasked me with tracking down a powerful toothbrush to help him get over his anxiety about cavities.

Climbing the rankings

At first, there are thousands of other contestants ahead of you in the Royal Tournament but as you complete quests and bounties and raise your Royal Virtues, your ranking improves.

Metaphor ReFantazio’s main quest keeps you busy but during your downtime, you can take on optional side quests. I found them to be engaging as they are broken up into several parts — like speaking to a particular character or buying info from an informant — that need to be completed before you set off to a dungeon.

Bounties work similarly but task you with taking down a larger monster. During my first bounty, I enjoyed the requirement to defeat several smaller enemies before the monster I was hunting appeared.

If you’ve played Persona, Metaphor ReFantazio’s Royal Virtues work in a similar way to social stats. There are five of them and they cover the attributes that a king needs like courage, wisdom, tolerance, eloquence and imagination.

It’s a lot easier to see how you’re progressing to the next level too. The Royal Virtues are depicted as spikes on a crown and as you do things like reading books, giving speeches, sightseeing or listening to stories, you gain coins that improve their level.

Time plays a big role in Metaphor ReFantazio and you’re given a bit of leeway into how you spend your days and nights. While there is a countdown to complete the main quests, you don’t have to rush in headfirst. Instead, you can do side quests to improve your party’s battle skills, work on your Royal Virtues or build bonds with your followers first.

Pressed for turns

Besides turn-based battles, you can attack enemies in dungeons and even outright eliminate weaker ones. For stronger enemies, these attacks stun them before entering turn-based combat. This technique proved invaluable with more difficult enemies and I relied on it throughout my playthrough.

The protagonist and your party study various archetypes that let them use combat skills in Metaphor ReFantazio. You can also transfer learned abilities from one archetype to another through skill inheritance. Archetypes change your moves but also the equipment you wear and the weapons you wield, both in dungeons and in turn-based combat. For instance, while studying the Gunner archetype, my character had a crossbow they could use to attack enemies from afar before engaging them directly.

You’re not limited when it comes to studying archetypes and any character can study whichever one you want. Your party members aren’t bound to a single weapon type either. There’s an archetype skill tree and you won’t be able to study the more advanced ones before meeting certain requirements like leveling up another archetype or building a strong bond with a particular party member or follower.

Turn-based battles forego the One More mechanic of Persona games in favor of Shin Megami Tensei’s Press Turn system. In battle, you start with as many turns as you have party members. However, hitting an enemy’s weakness or dealing a critical blow gives you a half-turn that the next party member can use. If done correctly, you can have up to eight turns in a row.

This makes battles more complicated and challenging. If you take a risk before knowing an enemy’s weaknesses, you can actually end up losing two turns or even all your turns. This kept me engaged in battles and when I was able to defeat a larger group of enemies quickly, it felt fantastic.

There are other changes worth mentioning. If the protagonist dies, the rest of your party can keep fighting and revive them. You also get the ability to replay battles from the beginning during your turn and finishing a battle without taking damage leads to an Unscathed Victory with more experience and better rewards. While you can’t perform an all-out attack, there are Synthesis Attacks where multiple party members join forces but this requires several turns.

Stepping into a storybook

The cell-shaded art style used for the characters makes them stand out against the more realistic look used in dungeons and other buildings. When you’re exploring cities, towering backdrops look like watercolor paintings and add a sense of scale to Metaphor ReFantazio’s world. This reminded me of Xenoblade Chronicles 3 while the characters felt like a more stylized version of the cell-shading used in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

The stylish and colorful menus of Persona make a return too and that’s a good thing, as you’ll spend a lot of time in them configuring your party. The Magla crystals that float in the air in cities and dungeons also help give Metaphor ReFantazio its unique look. They are what power the game’s magic but their appearance gives the entire world a magical quality.

While playing on Xbox Series X, the game maintained 60 frames per second for the most part but dipped down to 49-50 fps in crowded areas and sometimes while loading. This didn’t take me out of the action and I only really noticed it when I had my monitor showing the game’s current frame rate.

Atlus’ games are known for their strong soundtracks and on that front, Metaphor ReFantazio certainly delivers. The main battle theme is epic and easily gets stuck in your head, despite the fact that it uses the game’s fictional language instead of English or Japanese. Metaphor ReFantazio’s sound effects are just as strong as its soundtrack. From slashing swords to the click you hear when navigating through menus, everything just works and helps draw you into the game’s world.

Most of the game features full voice acting but characters tend to repeat themselves like when Moore in Akademia says “This right here” every time you select a new archetype. It seems odd at first but after several hours, these repeated phrases grew on me quite a lot. While you can’t turn them off, you can switch the game’s audio from English to Japanese.

Metaphor ReFantazio: Verdict

Metaphor ReFantazio manages to reach and possibly even overcome the high bar set by Persona 5. From its stylized visuals to its compelling story and fleshed-out world, Atlus has managed to outdo itself with this one. The game won’t be for everyone though with its long runtime and slow start but if you’re willing to make the investment, there’s a wonderful fantasy story to immerse yourself in that keeps you guessing. Metaphor ReFantazio really feels like the start of something special and a sequel would be an immediate must-play for me.